In the land of dwarfs, the one in platform shoes is king
A Maltese man who is described in the newspapers as ‘short’ finds himself at the centre of a storm of controversy as to whether short people should be described on television as disabled.
I am flummoxed. I can see that a person who is, say, four foot nine (and before anyone pounces on me for disparaging small people, my maternal grandmother was about that height, though she more than compensated with her personality) would be at a serious disadvantage in the Swedish hinterland, where short people start at five foot nine.
But surely even that doesn’t make for classification as ‘disabled’.
There is something else that flummoxes me. On an island of really short people where putting on weight means that you end up as wide as you are tall, how do you define shortness in relation to – well – more shortness? In Malta, how short is short?
I know that the general Maltese definition of short is different to what it is elsewhere because when I describe my youngest sister, for example, as “the small one” (I can do so here because she is away today and doesn’t read newspapers on the internet when London is so much fun), people say “Oh, she’s not small! She’s just not as tall as you are.”
Given that the difference in height is of seven inches at least, that should make me a ruddy giant. But here’s the thing: I’m not even tall. I’m pretty average on a pan-European scale, and when I go north, I’m short.
Yet back home, when I am out and about in the sorts of shoes that most women enjoy wearing and of which I feel so deprived, I find that people back off at parties and adopt the sort of body language that tells me they’re feeling threatened. So I spend my life in flip-flops and tennis-shoes whereas most Maltese women consider high heels to be part of their body and are never seen in public without them, and that tends to make things worse because when I do put on some high heels for parties, the impression received by familiars is that I have shot up overnight while everyone else has stayed the same.
And so I get remarks like, “What happened? You’re looking very tall today”, to which I am tempted to reply, “Yes, it’s all those growth hormones I’ve been taking, and has nothing to do with my decision to leave the flip-flops at home for once.”
So in Malta, where a man of five feet five is described as tall, and a woman who is five feet or thereabouts is not short but just like everyone else, exactly what constitutes short? I am at pains to discover, but the newspapers are being very discreet about it all.
My curiosity was piqued further when an association which campaigns for the rights of the disabled weighed in with comments that “dwarfs” should not be classified as disabled people. My first thought on the matter was: since when does this association regard ‘disabled’ as an insult or a pejorative term? I thought its purpose was to persuade us of the opposite.
My second thought was: is this man a dwarf or is he just short even by Maltese standards (which would make him – what? – four foot seven?). Dwarfs are not short people. They are people with a congenital condition that affects their entire physical being, including their facial features and their limbs. Extreme shortness is one aspect of dwarfism, but it is not the defining aspect.
The man himself has not helped matters by describing his stature as “not the same height as everyone else”. Well, I’m not the same height as everyone else, either, and nor are you. We’re not the same height as everyone else because everyone else is not the same height, but of varying heights.
We can only be the same height as some people. This man, when he was described as “disabled” by the Broadcasting Authority in a complaint to the producers of a show in which he competed with the ‘ugly’ team against the ‘beautiful’ team (the gist of the authority’s argument being that “disabled” people should not be classed as ugly) was extremely offended. He was even more offended when he was described as a dwarf, though we have yet to discover whether he really is one or not.
He said that he volunteered for the ‘ugly team’ and wasn’t shoved into it against his will – obviously, given that he participated in the programme willingly and not at gunpoint – and so the Broadcasting Authority is making a fuss on his behalf for nothing.
The Broadcasting Authority’s chief executive told the press that it had received no complaints from viewers and that it took the initiative in complaining to the producers that they “seemed to be saying that because the man is short then he is ugly”. The man himself, who comes across as pretty easy-going, self-assured and in no need of any kind of protection from well-meaning but patronising others, gave his own comments to the newspapers.
“I don’t think I’m ugly,” he said. “I just did it to have a laugh with my friends and got lots of positive feedback. I definitely don’t feel disabled. I can do the same things as everyone else. And if I am ugly, it’s not because I’m short.”
The programme’s producer pointed out the essentially farcical nature of the dispute. “What were we supposed to do,” she said, “tell him that he can’t play with the ugly team because people will be offended that he calls himself ugly? Or should we have put him with the beautiful team so as not to upset anyone?”
Ah, that political correctness – it’s a tough one. We might as well go the whole hog and stop describing people as anything at all. One member of the Broadcasting Authority appears to have gone down this road already, saying that the term “disabled” should be replaced with “people with differences”. Oh dear, what thrills lie in store.
This article is published in The Malta Independent on Sunday today.
64 Comments Comment
OMG ….. vera pajjiz tal lil elves
What a waste of space.
What’s happening to the Broadcasting Authority lately ? Last week it was short or height deprived people. Now according to The Sunday Times, it is “Deal or No Deal” which is getting a lot of stick. Have they started the winter festivities early and had a go at the drinks cupboard?
We seem to be coming to a world where even talking to a person might get you in trouble… because when you talk to a person you might transfer microbes, with a potential to cause an infection. Plus, what you say might hurt their feelings, and they will grow up deprived and psychologically disturbed because of what you said.
Just like the issue with the crucifixes – the Finnish atheist woman was supposedly speaking on behalf of her children, but did she consult her children? Did they come terrified after school talking about the mysterious and macabre thing hanging on the wall? I don’t want to start on this again – too much has been said and the matter has been twisted enough, but really!
If we go on about things like this we will all be living in glass cases, because of the possibility that criticism or something which we don’t believe in might hurt us. Man is much stronger than this. It seems as if we are underestimating ourselves (and our children) to the point that the slightest thing which we are not used to will break us.
Some common sense will not go amiss here, I think.
All I can comment on after reading this is oh how much I miss the metric system.
[Daphne – Yes, isn’t it odd? I can measure people’s height only in feet and inches and their weight only in stones. But anything else, I can only work with metric.]
Daphne, don’t worry – the Americans send remote-controlled vehicles to Mars and measure the result in inches, pounds and miles. You don’t have to be metric to be ingenious!
‘But anything else, I can only work with metric’.
I have my doubts. For instance, try televisions, car tyres, a pizza diameter, and last but not least, a whopper.
[Daphne – All things which don’t interest me, I’m afraid.]
Yes, standards are very difficult to get rid of, even though they use a stupid system. Not sure how a whopper fits in though, is that a measurement?
French McDonalds have already, as anyone who has seen Pulp Fiction knows, disposed of the term Quarter Pounder and turned it into a Royale with cheese. Hopefully more will follow suit.
I just can’t understand why people still use imperial measurements. A foot is twelve inches. A yard is three feet. A furlong is some two hundred yards. Makes no sense at all. With weights it’s only slightly more sensible. If you want to complain about the British Empire’s influence on you, complain about robbing you of the metric system.
[Daphne – The USA uses imperial measurements – only imperial measurements.]
Yes I’m very aware of that, which is the most likely reason we are stuck to using it, as Joe Borg pointed out, for computer monitors, tyres etc. There are some differences between what they use and the proper imperial system though, correct? Saying that, still a useless system.
[Daphne – The only difference I know of is that they don’t sort out their pounds into stones. In the British imperial system, a person’s weight would be given as, for example, 8 st 5lb, but in the US, a person’s weight is given as, for example, 100lb.]
Can you imagine downing a few “half litres”, Pat?
A “stor stark” we call it in Sweden, meaning “a large and strong”. It would be a half litre. Granted, a pint is slightly larger than half a litre I believe, so you do gain a couple of ml extra.
For anyone interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems
Having downed a few litres, there’s a bit of euronating to do.
Now that’s a good one.
Just to clarify: a whopper is only a whopper if it’s more than six inches. Otherwise it’s an acorn.
Daphne, I don’t know which Malta you are living in, but the one I lived in, five foot five for a man was never tall. I’m five foot eight and short. It’s true average heights in Malta are less than say Holland, but I’d say you’re considered tall in Malta at about 6 foot.
[Daphne – Six feet? I’m five foot seven, if that. I’m actually one of the shortest in my extended family. If you perceive me as six feet tall, then there is no way you are really five foot eight. And still I’m taller than most Maltese men and the same height as many others, and that’s in flat shoes. When I come across a Maltese man who’s taller than I am in flats, it strikes me because it’s unusual. And when I come across a Maltese man who’s taller than I am in heels, I remember it because it’s really, really exceptional. So either you’ve measured yourself wrongly or you haven’t see what Maltese women look like when shorn of their heels.]
I meant men. Maltese women at five seven are indeed tall. Maltese men at five seven are short, even by Maltese standards. Let’s put it this way, at 5’8″,(ok, maybe 5’7 and 3/4) I never felt tall.
5’7″ is above average/tallish for a woman not just in Malta but in most countries, but for a man, I’d say you’d have to be 6ft to be considered tall. A 5’5″ man is certainly never considered tall… he’s never even considered average. He’s below average at best and a midget at worst.
[Daphne – Then most Maltese men are midgets, because at 5’7″ in flat shoes, I am taller that most of them, though I have to say I’m talking about men of my generation and older than that. I’ve noticed that my sons’ friends are taller than their fathers are/were.]
I hardly believe that you rarely come across men as tall as you even if you’re wearing flats.
[Daphne – Believe me, it’s true. You only become conscious of just how short Maltese people are when you are a woman my height, because women are supposed to be shorter than men and it really strikes you if you rarely are. In a pair of high shoes I feel like a human periscope, seeing above the heads of crowds – and like I said, I’m not tall, just above the European average. ]
According to this EU survey (https://secure.gov.mt/nso/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=573), the average height of Maltese adult males is 5’7″ and for females 5’3″, which sounds about right. In the 25-34 demographic, average males are 5’9″ and average females are 5’5.5″, and that also sounds about right.
[Daphne – Why do I suspect that rather than measuring these men and women themselves, the surveyors asked them for their measurements? I have stood in flat shoes next to Maltese women in four inch heels who come up to my shoulder and insist barefacedly that they are five foot two. Equally, I have stood in those flat shoes next to men my height or less who insist they are five foot 10. They are either deluding themselves or they think I have no visual ability to size things up. There is no way on earth that the average height of Maltese men is five foot seven, and you just have to look around you to see that. Same with the women. Also, average height does not have the same meaning as ‘the height of the majority of people’.]
Yes unfortunately, Maltese men are not the tallest, but having said that I am tall for a woman I am 5’10”, whilst my sister is 6’2″.
[Daphne – I remember you saying that your father was a policeman, so that must have been back in the days when the height requirement for policemen was a lot stricter than it is now. The only tall boy in our class at primary school was called Alex (he’s now a policeman) and his mother was one of Malta’s first policewomen. I remember him because he was the only other super-gangly child in the room.]
My sister was luckier than me because she got a man her size, whilst mine is shorter. I used to wear jeans and sneakers to go out with him and he finally asked me whether I have any legs. When I got married I had to wear ballet shoes, well sort of, because we would have looked funny in our wedding photos. Now it doesn’t bother me any more. But then both my brothers are 7′ tall, yes 7′ tall. One was captain of a local basketball team, and the other hosted a programme on PBS, believe me when all the tribe comes out, we get some pretty funny looks, but I don’t consider us to be disabled, even though some people think so.
If I look around me all I can see are tall people: I am six foot , brother is 6′ 2″, sister is 5′ 6″, wife is 5′ 8- 5′ 9″, eldest son 6’3″, next son stands at 6′ 1″, youngest is my height and 16 years old. Father is 6 ft. His father was 6′ 3″. He has two brothers who surely are over 5′ 10″, two others who are six feet tall and two sisters who are 5 ‘ 7″. Mother was 5’7″, three of her brothers were around 6 feet tall while one was around 5′ 8″, two of her sisters were around her height while her eldest sister stood at 5’10”.
Wife’s two brothers are six-footers and her two sisters are 5′ 7″ and 5 ’10” . Her mother 5′ 7″. Her father was over six feet tall.
Cousins from my father’s side are all tall: boys’ average is 6 feet and girls average is 5″9′ . To be correct I have some five 5′ 7″ cousins out of twenty-five or so.
Whenever we occasionally meet in a wedding or a funeral I feel dwarfed by some of my relatives. I think 5′ 9″ for men and 5′ 5.5″ for women is an acceptable average height for the Maltese population. I find short people very aggressive in what they do, while tall people tend to be gentle giants.
[Daphne – There you go, between you you’ve put up the national average height. The islands remain noticeably thick with midgets, though.]
Yes, your suspicions are correct. The people weren’t actually measured by the surveyors, so the heights are almost definitely at least slightly inflated. But still, I sincerely doubt the average Maltese man (or the ‘majority of them’) is much shorter than 5’7″. But then again, I’m in my 20s and I don’t hang out with older people much, except family members, and I don’t believe any of the men in my family are under 5’7″. One of my grandmothers is 4’11” though.
You’re probably both right;
If the average height is 5’7″ and the 25-34 age group average 5’9″, then logically the over 35s must be considerably shorter than 5’7″.
Rita Camilleri and Watusi
So, if you all stand together and take a group photo, will it look like a Himalayan landscape?
It’s not just in height that we’re lacking. We must be pretty short of ideas too to come up with something like this programme. Have to admit I wasn’t aware of it.
How about some thoughts – however biased they may be – about Minister Fenech’s development mates and the PM’s recent non reaction to it. Looks like we are keeping mum! – Surely you can do better. Some corruption corrupts – absolute corruption – corrupts absolutely – if ever there was a story screaming for analysis – this must be it. Height stories about men and women in flip flops or in high heeled shoes reminds me of the UK’s gutter press.
[Daphne – Then you are free to go elsewhere for your entertainment. My definition of ‘gutter press’ is a newspaper that publishes hearsay allegations as a headline and a denial of those allegations in a small line towards the end of the story. My idea of sound reporting is not ‘he told me that the other said that that one told him…’: that’s an agenda driven spiteful attack by somebody who is even unhappier now than he has ever been before, because his anglu kustodju is about to be kicked out of Maltese politics and into a job in Brussels.]
On a completely different note..a lesson for the PL on how to say sorry.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6918205.ece
Even Maltese children were sent away to Australia.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091117/local/historic-apology-by-australian-pm
The British emigrants are still awaiting an apology from the British government. This is going to be done in the Christmas period, according to the government spokeswoman interviewed towards the end of the online news video clip.
When will the Maltese government make its apology to the Maltese child-emigrants to Australia in the 50’s and 60’s?
On second thoughts, it would be better to leave it till after the recession, since an apology brings with it so many claims for compensation.
Talking/writing about heights reminds me of an old saying in Latin: Homo lungus raro sapiens…sed sapiens, sapientissimus. Unfortunately very few, if any, fall under the latter category. Moral: Size is not important – it’s what you do with it which counts!
Peace to all, including the height challenged.
Are you sure Daphne? I’m having a hard time believing this… I’m 5’9”, and although I’m the eldest out of all my cousins (22 y/o), all of them (the males at least) are taller than I am, including my brothers. The only male in my family who’s not is my father, and he’s still my height.
Although a large portion of the Maltese male population is short, I never felt tall at my height. Some of my friends (ranging from 20 – 30 y/o) are over 6′, the tallest two being 6’4” (and trust me, both are giants). I admit this isn’t a common sight, but claiming that 5’5” for a man is considered tall is way off.
[Daphne – There is a significant generational difference. My sons’ generation is noticeably taller than my own, and I am only 20 years older than they are. At 5′ 7″ (and I don’t think I am even that) I was taller than most of the boys at sixth form, bar two, and the same height as many others. There were around 150 boys there. Of the 100 girls, the only one who was taller was my sister, the rest were shorter and one was the same height. When I went out, to parties and bars, I was painfully aware that I was taller than most boys and the same height as the rest, with very, very few exceptions. This means that the vast majority must OBVIOUSLY have been well under 5′ 7″ or it wouldn’t have struck me that I felt like a baby giraffe on the dating scene. I never went out in high heels, like all the other girls did, because then I felt like a periscope and there was no way on earth that I was ever getting a date like that. My much taller girlfriend (around 5′ 11″) could only get a date in the summer, with the invasion of ‘foreigners’ (she married one of them; he’s around 6′ 7″). A much taller, much older man once asked me to a party that I was going to anyway (in flat shoes). Fantastic, I thought, I’ll go with him and then I can wear those four-inch heels I bought for nothing last week. And thus my fate was sealed.]
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vf5j7MiiIok/So7Dr_v_eLI/AAAAAAAAAHk/E-m_lCRlwuI/s320/mc+queen+boots.jpg
BOOTS!
That is all.
OK guys, give up. I’ve 1st hand proof.
I’ve seen Daphne today, in Valletta. She was shopping, while I was having my coffee at Cordina’s. She’s right when saying that she’s much taller than her male counterparts when in heels… In fact, I’m pretty sure she’s as tall as most Maltese men, when in flip-flops.
@yanika
how typically hipocritical..when people were labelled racists for mentioning the immigration problem…freedom of speech/opinion wasn’t mentioned…now the do gooders are feeling the tension themselves becuase they want to remove their cross… ha ha ..at least you realized something ..that the kid’s opinion is never mentioned..but it was the mother’s hate for christianity…I also believe islam is behind it ..but they used an atheist to avoid a backlash of muslim immigrants who are identifyable by their clothing unlike atheists.
this is just the beginning enjoy the multi cult..training local imams..mosques have to be built and churches replaced…immigrants right to vote and go in politics…mux li se jivvutawlom hafna ifem haha..
http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1605.htm
a deal between zapatero and co sponsored…by guess who ..turkey.
@Watusi. I wonder if you are related to my family. Reading your post I have a feeling you are. It’s the same with me, when I meet family from my father’s side I am dwarfed, even though I am 5’10”. The thing is my mother’s side are also tall.
Yes, Daphne, when dad was a policeman it was obligatory to be over a certain height. My mother’s brothers were all policemen and so was my grandfather, but one of my uncles was slightly shorter then the required height, and mum says that he used to hang against the wardrobe and my uncles used to pull at his legs to try and get that extra inch. They must have succeeded because he managed to get into the police force and became a sergeant.
@ Antoine Vella, I like your comment, when we have a family wedding, it’s a nightmare for the poor photographer to fit us all in, both from the width and the height.
@ Watusi, do you have any relations form Mgarr or Zebbiegh by any chance, because my late father is from there and the extended family is quite large?
@Rita
One of my favourite Maltese-German ‘family’ pictures is the one where I had to sit on a footstool like ‘nanna’ in the middle of my Maltese friends. The photographer seemed to be extremely hassled and was also too shy to tell me that he wanted me to sit down. Well, the result is a great picture with me looking like Queen Mum beset by her people.
Off on a tangent: Can anybody confirm whether this quotation “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” is from a short story by H G Wells. I had bought this book (now missing) from a junk shop down Archbishop Street in front of the Curia in the Sixties kept by a guy named Duminku; he used to potter around with books, magazines, furniture and bric-a-brac. The shop was there till the early seventies as he had a lot of ex-British Council books in stock after Dom chucked them out.
[Daphne – “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king./In regione caecorum rex est luscus. – Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Adagia (III, IV, 96)]
Off on a second tangent, please bear with me. Last week I got three books, three diaries and a free DVD of “The Sting” (as I had spent over Euro 60) from an internet book shop in Milan which sends only by courier as it does not trust the Poste Italiane. When I factored the courier charges over the books + diaries (the DVD was free), one of the books (just published) was still Euro 3.00 cheaper than the same edition in a bookshop here. Can anyone explain? Maybe economies of scale?
Remember your post about arrest and detention procedures in Malta? Have a look at this. Perhaps we should try something similar:
http://lci.tf1.fr/france/justice/2009-11/les-gardes-a-vue-illegales-en-france-5538156.html
Incidentally, they fail to mention Malta. “hormis la France et la Belgique….”
http://www.go.com.mt/files/billeder/Press%20Releases/JosephMuscat.jpg
Short?
[Daphne – Definitely. Joseph Muscat is shorter than I am, which means that everyone else in that photograph is, too. And which also means that he can’t lie about his height like all those men in the national average height survey, and say that he is 5′ 7″, because take it from me, I’ve stood next to him in flatties and he’s around 5′ 4″, if that. I guess we’re going to be keeping up the tradition of minuscule prime ministers.]
The one to his left is around 5 foot 10 in person. That would make Muscat around 5 foot 6 or so, which is still short for a man.
[Daphne – He is definitely not 5’6″.]
There is a Maltese saying which goes “l-essenza fil-fliexken iz-zghar” (roughly translated as “the best things come in small packages”). As far as Maltese men go though, I’d say that the shorter men are, the more pushy and cocky they tend to be (probably having had to be so from childhood to get themselves noticed).
Gracey, oh how I agree with your last sentence. For many, many years I have noticed how short men are full of themselves and in your face, trying desperately to compensate for their shortness by their ‘personality’ and failing miserably.
[Daphne – And have you noticed how many of them go into politics and end up running the country? Or is that just the law of averages?]
This is weird. I only saw Muscat once in person, at this year’s boat show, and what struck me was that he looked taller in person than he did on TV and photos. I didn’t stand right next to him, but from about 15 feet away he looked 5’10”, and my friend thought the same thing. He must wear elevator shoes or something.
[Daphne – The man comes up roughly to my ear. I would say that makes him even less than 5’5″, because I’m pretty sure I’m under 5’7″. I’ll measure myself this evening and let you know.]
There is a Maltese saying which goes “l-essenza fil-fliexken iz-zghar” (roughly translated as “the best things come in small packages”). IMMA MHUX FIT-TAPPIJIET!
Daphne, je regrette mes mots du dimanche. J’etais ‘over the top’. Je suis desolais. Je m’excuse.
those legs can’t be long
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/femily-holitey-ta-muscat.jpg
same height as the president who is 5’5″
http://media.photobucket.com/image/joseph%20muscat/magicalbecks/GAandJM.jpg
[Daphne – Qed tara kemm naf nikkalkula t-tul! It comes from years of sewing lessons in childhood, an (im)measurably valuable skill.]
Prosit Daphne, but what’s the point? Gonzi is short, Sant is short, Eddie is short… etc etc
Sorry, folks, but I love this blog more when it tackles some worthwhile subject like the crucifix story or other good topic. This one leaves me at a loss about its contribution to anything. Nevertheless, here’s my two cent piece until such time as some other subject is chosen. At my glorious all-too-brief barely 5’6″ in my shoes, I can tell you that I’ve lived for quite a time in a country where the average height is much taller than Malta’s and where 5’7″ for women is no big deal. Conversing in an environment where only the people of that country where present, I did feel some cervical discomfort at having to look up most of the time but when an international gathering was there, I did not feel all that short – most people, Indonesians, Chinese, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Egyptians etc – were either my height or even shorter or slightly taller. It’s mostly the Nordics and some Africans who are considerably taller. I don’t think anybody gave much thought to physical stature: I guess it was taken for granted that average height differs according to ethnic origin and it was left at that. Some world leaders are short and some great people in many walks of life were tiny. Do I say this because I’m short? Maybe. I’m not sure my stature had any influence at all on my life-style or my achievements.
What we don’t see are his shoes. With platforms he could increase his height by 2 inches at least. So he could be 5’2″ or 5’3″. That would be sad. I ain’t tall (5’7 3/4), but at least it never bothered me. Good thing it didn’t, when I played basketball all my friends were over 6’2 or so. It’s not how tall you are, but how well you live with it.
Well, I met the president only Monday, and he is a good 5 inches shorter than I am. And I consider myself short. I’m taller than my dad. My brother is taller than me by about an inch, which, considering the fact that both my parents are not that tall, is surprising, because both of us are taller than any of our uncles. Then again, when I meet my father-in-law, I feel like a midget. He is one inch shy of 7 feet. The wife in fact is about an inch taller than me. That means, joy of joys, that my kids get some Irish genes in their makeup from him. My son at six is already tall for his age.
I met you, Daphne, about …oh once. I met your husband many more times, and he is moderately tall, I would say. My impression is that you were tall for your age when young.
[Daphne – My husband is 6’2″. I am just under 5’7″. I am only ‘tall’ because I live in Malta.]
Therefore, from all this, I would deduce that Joseph Muscat is as tall as the president. No doubt about it at all. His wife is quite short, and he is slightly taller.
What he has to understand is that you may be short, but you can have what is called stature. Which he doesn’t. Stature is a difficult word to label anyone with, and it’s a combination of respect, presence, and earned position in life, all of which our Joey has still got some way to go in obtaining.
[Daphne – I agree. He total embarrassing crap at that press conference on Monday. As one of my girlfriends put it, it was like a session from theatre class: ‘Man gives speech’; ‘Man demonstrates anger’; ‘Man addresses the audience’. So self-conscious.]
Absolutely. Maybe he can have a stab at Carla Bruni when she finally drives Sarkozy up the wall.
(Yes, being short is a definite disadvantage, except in firefights when the enemy is shooting high.)
I don’t know if Steven was responding to my comments. If he was, the answer is yes, I wear stiletto heels six inches high to augment my 5′ stature. Happy? Wherever I went I was always the talk of the town. I think it was a mistake to get myself into this idiotic topic and so it’s over and out for now. Maybe I’ll put in some more comments when this blog starts discussing who has the longest…er… you know what …or the biggest tits, for that matter. That would be another worthwhile argument, I guess.
about the subject..
https://opm.gov.mt/newsdetails?id=373&l=1
I laughed out loud when I first saw this image in the papers a while back. Now Obama is 6’1″-6’2″ so he’s not exactly a giant but he sure makes Gonzi look like a hobbit.
I am six feet tall and my perception is that many short people like to give us tall people a hard time because of the height difference. Short people tend to have an aggressive attitude while tall people tend to bend over backwards not to ‘offend’ short people. A typical situation would be when a group of three or four people is chatting while standing close to each other, short people hate it when they have to look up to talk to the others in the group.
[Daphne – It depends on the gender. Women hate having to look DOWN to talk to anyone, especially if it’s a man. If the man feels uncomfortable, I can tell you that it’s nowhere near as uncomfortable as the woman feels. And women also hate looking DOWN to talk to other women, because it makes them feel abnormally large, while the other women are probably feeling abnormally small. There’s another problem, which is: where do you stand? Two people of equal height stand face to face and quite close together, but if one towers over the other, both take a couple of steps back and unconsciously minimise the sense of threat by standing at an angle rather than face on. Then on the other hand, women don’t mind at all having to look up to talk to a man. In fact, we rather like it.]
In the land of the oblivious, Daphne is omnisapient.
[Daphne – Here’s a very tall man for whom I make an exception.]
Sapiens omnia agit cum consilio. From one tall man to another.
Crikey! That’s a tough nut to crack, Mr Purdie. But tall is not necessarily wise. In Portugal, the average Maltese is a demi-giant.
Kev, you have already proved that. Perhaps you should move to Portugal.
I am 5’9″ and once I dated a woman who was 6’1″; it felt like I was going out with my mum, especially when we held hands.
A Freudian delight…
Freud was an Illuminati nutcase and his theories are wilder than Joe Muscat’s.
Why hasnt anyone asked where we can get those boots?! I love those boots! Please tell me where I can get a pair they are epic!